Earth Fire, Heavenly Cold; Hammered and Tempered; A Thousand Years to Form; Divine Sword Juehuan
That cold wind just now was really odd. It didn’t feel like an endless, natural breeze at all—more like a martial arts master’s palm strike. Concentrated, brief, and packs a serious punch.
Before the wind, it was stiflingly hot.
After the wind? Still stiflingly hot.
But when that cold wind hit you, even a regular person would shiver like crazy. We’re talking at least minus twenty or thirty degrees Celsius.
It was like a ghostly passerby wandering through this blazing-hot world—unpredictable, out of place, and left no trace. If it hadn’t blown right across their backs, Jack Young and his companion probably wouldn’t even have noticed such a chill drifting through a land full of lava.
So, the two of them started tracking down the source of the chill.
It wasn’t completely untraceable—if you didn’t know to look for it, you’d never notice anything strange. But if you were on the hunt, you could pick up a few clues here and there.
"Oh, right," Jack Young suddenly remembered, "the Blind Elder once said that the climate near the South Wasteland Temple is super weird—sometimes it’s scorching hot, sometimes it randomly snows. That’s probably why." At the time, nobody thought much of it, but now that the cold wind had hit them, things were clearly not that simple.
Wherever the chill showed up, there was less lava and more solid rock, which made walking a lot easier. Plus, since the King of Golden Blades had just bit the dust here, Wind Wushang was probably nearby. To avoid a sneak attack, Jack Young and his companion decided to go on foot, staying sharp as they followed the trail. They never ran into Wind Wushang, but the terrain just kept getting more and more complicated.
The two of them wandered deeper and deeper through these beehive-like tunnels. After twisting and turning for ages, they noticed the chill in the air was getting thicker and more frequent.
Finally, after crawling through a tiny cave, they spotted some human handiwork. Carved decorations and corridors started popping up everywhere, and the vibe was getting more and more like some wild mix of fantasy and fairyland.
The most ridiculous part? A suspended plank walkway, barely a meter wide. One side was a sheer cliff, while the other side had this massive 'waterfall'—except it wasn’t water, it was blazing-hot lava. Rivers of molten rock poured down like molten steel from a furnace, glowing gold and red. If you poked your head over the edge, the sea of fire below was even more jaw-dropping.
It was so wild and dangerous, just looking at it made you wonder: who were the absolute legends that built this thing? If your internal energy or body wasn’t up to snuff, you’d get roasted just by walking across.
In the end, Princess Embroidered Jade grabbed Jack Young’s wrist and used her Bright Moon Six Realms chill to cool things down. That’s how they zipped through this movie-worthy danger zone. After crossing the lava falls, the road got way easier, and soon they reached a wide cavern.
"Look, there’s Stardust Crystal Stone over there—and more over there! Tons of Stardust Crystal Stone!"
All along the tunnel, chunks of Stardust Crystal Stone were embedded in the pitch-black walls. Back in the Flower Shifting Village’s cold pool cave, there were loads of these, but not even a tenth as many as here. As they went deeper, the cold wind got stronger, and the Stardust Crystal Stone became more and more packed together. The red glow from the earth fire faded, replaced by the sparkling light of the crystals. Every step took them further from the burning world and deeper into a land of ice and snow.
Before long, the ground actually started piling up with frost and snow—thicker and thicker, just like a northern winter. Judging by the ground, nobody had been here lately. Of course, if someone had used some fancy snow-walking lightness skill, that’d be a different story. But from the way the cold wind wailed, Jack Young figured no one was ahead.
"We’ve looped around and now we’re directly under the main temple cavern—just way deeper." Jack Young, the human GPS, started navigating. As he walked, he suddenly slapped the cave wall, then another wall nearby, frowning like he’d found something weird.
"What’s up?"
"These two sides—they’re different." Jack Young waved his hand, sending a gust that blew the snow off the ground and revealed the rock beneath. Princess Embroidered Jade took a closer look and realized there was a dividing line—the rock on either side was a different color. Both were nearly black, but the rock behind them felt heavy and solid, while the rock ahead looked like something out of a sci-fi movie—mysterious, ethereal, and crystal clear.
It was like staring into the endless, pitch-black universe.
A cold wind blew through, carrying snowflakes. Jack Young caught a handful, zoning out for a while before blurting to Princess Embroidered Jade, "I get it now. I know what the South Wasteland’s greatest treasure—the foundation of the whole place—really is."
Princess Embroidered Jade was stunned for a moment, then started thinking, and finally pointed around in surprise. This clever lady had figured out what Jack Young was getting at: "You mean it’s this?"
"Exactly! We’re not ‘looking’ for the treasure—we’re literally walking inside it!" Jack Young patted the mysterious black wall, awestruck. "This must be the biggest Stardust Crystal Stone in existence! The South Wasteland’s treasure is a fallen celestial body!"
Just how massive would a meteor have to be to make a Stardust Crystal Stone like this? Actually, calling it ‘stardust’ is selling it short—it’s not a fragment, it’s a whole star! Compared to this, those orange-sized or fist-sized pieces are just dandruff.
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The dandruff-sized Stardust Crystal Stones formed when yin and yang fused together, so they sparkle but don’t have any temperature. But this giant chunk—no earthly fire can burn through it, which explains all the cold wind. Who knows how many ages it’s been since it fell from the sky, and it’s still icy cold—a true planetary-scale wonder.
The farther they went, the more stunned they became. The tunnel was so deep and winding, it took two hundred meters of twists and turns before they finally reached the end.
At the end was a place just like the half-sphere stone chamber where Jack Young and Princess Embroidered Jade once ‘cohabited’—even the size was about the same. The room’s walls glowed, sparkling and dazzling, not too bright, not too dim, just magical. If he’d come here a few years ago with a fairy-like girl, Jack Young would’ve thought he was dreaming—lost in the beauty. But now, he was totally ruining the mood by fixating on something in the center of the chamber.
It was a stone sphere, just over a meter in diameter—round, plain, no special shine or markings, totally unremarkable. But Jack Young noticed it for two reasons: first, its spot was suspiciously dead-center. Second, it felt rooted to the ground, fused with the whole star—no way to just pick it up and move it.
Second, there was a sword stuck right in the stone sphere.
At the very top of the stone sphere was a sword hilt—old-fashioned, nothing flashy, basically just a chunky iron stick. But as a disciple of the smithing arts, Jack Young couldn’t tear his eyes away. There was something mysterious about it, like an immortal in deep sleep, or Jack the Fool on one of his off days—totally silent and spaced out, but anyone who underestimated it was a certified 24K fool.
Beneath its plain exterior, something truly extraordinary was hiding.
"Hey, there’s writing here." Princess Embroidered Jade spotted an ancient inscription on the cave wall, the words simple and to the point. She read aloud, "Earth Fire, Heavenly Cold; Hammered and Tempered; A Thousand Years to Form; Divine Sword Juehuan."
Divine Sword—Juehuan?
"Juehuan?" Jack Young snapped back to reality, shocked. "That name... Wait, it’s in the arsenal records!"
Princess Embroidered Jade pointed at the sword hilt. "Could this be a Xuan Divine Weapon?"
Jack Young shook his head. "No, it’s not listed among the Xuan Divine Weapons, but it’s given special mention in the appendix."
He looked at the chunky sword hilt. "Ouyezi’s lineage was actually a branch of the South Wasteland royal family, dedicated to forging weapons—pure blood, high status. The first Xuan Divine Weapon they made was the Bamboo Sword Xiangfei, but the first divine sword known in the South Wasteland wasn’t Xiangfei. According to the records, the very first divine weapon was a sword core left by the ancestor of the South Wasteland royalty. But the sword core was so powerful, even the master smiths couldn’t shape it by hand. So they used celestial fire and earth’s cold to nurture it, and it had to be at least a thousand years.
"Because the sword core wasn’t a finished Xuan Divine Weapon, it’s not in the main registry. But it’s so special, the appendix goes into tons of detail. And the sword core’s name—" Jack Young gazed at the hilt, murmuring, "is ‘Juehuan.’ Divine Sword Juehuan, peerless in the universe. That’s the legend of the smithing arts. Who’d have thought it’d be right here?"
A thousand years have passed, and the ancient divine sword is still inside this stone sphere—it’s like stepping right into a time machine.
"No wonder," Princess Embroidered Jade said, as if solving a mystery. "Ever since we got here, I’ve felt this faint, constant calling in my ears. But when I really listen, it’s just empty silence. People say divine weapons have spirits—could it be the Juehuan sword calling to us?"
"Yeah, I felt that too." Jack Young nodded. "Looks like we’re meant to find Juehuan. And it’s probably been exactly a thousand years. After chilling in this magical place for a millennium, even a rock would become sentient. The Juehuan sword core must be brimming with spirit. But to truly become a sword, there’s one last step—and I just happen to be a smithing disciple. Everything’s lining up: time, place, people. If it’s not fate, it’s some wild coincidence."
Looks like destiny—Juehuan is meant for the two of them. Jack Young carefully gripped the sword’s hilt. Nothing happened. Seeing Princess Embroidered Jade looking nervous, he tried to lighten the mood: "There’s a goofy old legend about Juehuan. Supposedly, a Daoist said a thousand years ago: ‘If Juehuan never comes out, the South Wasteland will never fall. But whoever pulls Juehuan will destroy the South Wasteland.’ If I pull it out, I might become the big villain who wipes out a kingdom!"
"Seriously? Ancient folks in the South Wasteland really believed that nonsense?" Princess Embroidered Jade scoffed. "Juehuan hasn’t appeared, but the old dynasty’s already gone. That prophecy’s busted."
"Ha, yeah, never trust fortune-tellers!" Jack Young laughed, grabbed the sword hilt with both hands, and—pulled!
Suddenly, there was a loud crack—not the sound of the sword coming free, but the stone sphere bursting into blinding light! In an instant, the plain stone became a dazzling, icy star!
Jack Young felt a wave of intense cold shoot through the sword hilt and flood his whole body. It was so fierce, it was like being dunked in liquid nitrogen—his bones, muscles, organs, blood, even his hair were frozen solid. And the chill had a weird spiritual energy, filling every meridian and pressure point. Even his cold-based Bright Jade Technique got totally locked down.
"Oh crap!" Jack Young realized the cold was way beyond what he could handle. If Jill Young were here, maybe her dragon-strength body could keep the blood flowing—just barely. At least she’d have a fighting chance. But now, he was nothing but an ice block. And since all the cold was trapped inside, he looked perfectly normal on the outside—rosy cheeks and all. But really, he was like a statue carved from ancient ice—probably impervious to knives and axes.
If this kept up, he’d be frozen for good. Either he’d die here, or end up iced until the future—like a prop for some sci-fi movie! No way, I’ve gotta do something! Sidekick mode, activate—calling for backup!
Then he felt a pair of hands press against his back. A surge of internal energy flooded in, blasting open a floodgate and draining the icy cold out of him.
It was Princess Embroidered Jade!
As the cold poured out, Jack Young could barely move his head and neck. He forced his frozen jaw open, spitting out ice shards and croaking, "Let—go—your—body’s—too—weak—you’ll—freeze—to—death!"
But those hands on his back didn’t budge—instead, they pulled even harder, drawing out the ancient cold. Princess Embroidered Jade stood behind Jack Young, instantly turning into a shimmering, transparent ice sculpture, surrounded by swirling snow.